The 7Q Interview: Jason Parent
AUTHOR BIO
Jason is an author of horror, thrillers, science fiction, and dark humor, though his many novels, novellas, and short stories tend to blur the boundaries between these genres. From his award-winning first horror/mystery novel, What Hides Within, to his widely applauded police procedural/supernatural thriller, Seeing Evil, Jason’s work has won him praise from both critics and fans of diverse genres alike. Jason grew up near Fall River, Massachusetts, the setting for several of his novels. He has lived in New England most his life, currently residing in Rhode Island.
QUESTIONS
#1. Looking back, what’s one fiction book that you feel truly made an impact on your writing? Do you still gravitate towards that author?
#1. I often cite to The Stand, but much more recently, two other King books have unexpectedly and wonderfully stimulated my imagination: Wizard and Glass and The Wind Through the Keyhole, both from The Dark Tower series. I wasn’t a huge fan of the series, but I absolutely loved these two books (which, consequently), feature a young Roland in the former and an entirely different protagonist in the latter, as opposed to the rest of the books in the series). The way King seamlessly weaves western, horror, and fantasy in both these books is nothing short of magical.
I still regularly read King’s work, with The Outsider being my most recent go. But where his work comprised 75% of my reading in my teens, I have broadened my reading so much beyond King that his books are a fraction of the horror I read, never mind of all the books I read.
#2. How do you feel about the use of sub-genres in the industry? How do you describe your work overall?
#2. With the advent of self-publishing, the market became flooded with books. Sub-genres are very useful to help readers locate books tailored to their specific tastes. They are also useful to writers like me, whose work rarely fits squarely into one genre. It does get a little crazy when you see an author post that his or her book is the best-selling pirate dog book written in Sanskrit… but only on Amazon Antarctica.
#3. What about your writing process do you think is unique or quirky? What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
#3. I write all my first drafts by hand. I am actually surprised by how many people find that odd. My fingers can’t keep up with my brain when I’m typing, and seeing what I’ve written on the screen will take me out of the scene in my mind if I see those pesky red underlines on Word. I end up editing before I even fully create.
As for bad advice, I’m not sure I’ve gotten a lot of that. I just didn’t seek enoughadvice at the beginning, which caused a few trip ups, I’m sure. The horror community is a great group of people, so my advice would be to reach out to some of them any time advice is needed.
#4. How does music and media factor into your writing? Do you feel it plays as much an inspirational role as literature?
#4. I don’t listen to music while I write, but it plays a HUGE inspirational role in my writing. As do the movies of my youth. Anyone who’s read They Feedcan probably see my love for both 80s and modern horror films. Songs are less obvious, where mood of a melody can be transformed into something beautiful or horrific (or both), except in the case of my story, “Eleanor,” which is a very literal take on the line in The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” “wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door.”
#5. As an author, how much do you engage in social media? Do you feel it is more for your own entertainment, or for marketing and networking?
#5. Social media is an effective tool for marketing, not for hard-selling books, but for engaging readers and getting them interested in you as a person (which may or may spawn an interest in your writing). Being an introvert and one who absolutely despises sharing stuff about my personal life to my own friends most of the time, never mind on social media, I suck at it. But all those authors who say they are using it to engage with people are using it to essentially market themselves, to brand themselves. This is not a criticism: it’s a great marketing skill to have in your repertoire. Those who are best at it are those that seem to truly enjoy it and are thus being 100% genuine.
I use it (not so well) to promote and to see what everyone else (friends, writers, readers, whoever) is up to. I’m always happy to talk through it and use it socially as it is intended, but I’m terrible at initiating those conversations. So people should just feel free to say hi!
#6. Where do you see the future of horror fiction heading? In turn, what changes would you love to see, either socially or technologically?
#6. For a while, I thought horror was heading to a place where the more extreme it was, the better. But the Hostelera seems to have concluded. I honestly don’t know where it’s going, but I would love to see a resurgence of quality campiness. And I’ll fight anyone who says there’s no such thing!
No matter where it goes, though, I’ll keep writing what I want to write.
#7. What can you tell us about any forthcoming projects? What titles would you like to promote now?
#7. First, thanks for inviting me onto your blog. Second, congrats on all your recent successes and best of luck with your Bloodshot release.
I have had a killer start to 2019. I honestly thought I might be slowing down, having published seven novels between 2012 and now. That’s not prolific by King standards, but writing is his day job. I have no novels left that are completed and not already published or soon to be so. I am about a third the way through my work in progress, but it will be a year or two before that one’s done.
Anyway, in addition to two short stories and a novella due out this year. I placed a bio-horror novel called The Apocalypse Strain with Flame Tree Press and am extremely excited. The release shouldn’t be until early 2020. In the meantime, readers can see me next in Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight anthology this May, and I hope to have a few more short stories to follow. Otherwise, my last novel, Victoria, was released on December 21, 2018. For those who are interested, all of my work can be found here:
AUTHOR PIC
